| Summary: | This study considers a specific form of geometric abstraction initiated by a group of Latin
American artists — including the Argentineans Julio Le Pare and Martha Boto, and the
Venezuelans Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesus Rafael Soto —who were active in Paris during
the early 1960s. The work of these artists, which was by no means cohesive, was rooted
in a tradition of European and Latin American geometric abstraction, yet with a modem
edge. The work played with a recognizable formal vocabulary, but offered a participatory
model of engagement distinct from the emotional detachment of early 20th century
geometric abstraction and the gestural tendencies of abstract expressionism. Optical and
kinetic art, as it came to be called, offered the early 1960’s viewer in Paris a kind of
unique artistic experience which mediated both the pressing postwar needs of France and
Latin America and the technological optimism of a hyper-consumerist era. Utilizing new
artistic materials (i.e. plastic) and technological devices that made reference to the world
of advertising and design, these artists became unwittingly connected to the international
economic and political aspirations of France at what was an uncertain historical moment.
Launched by the seminal exhibition Le Mouvement, held at Galerie Denise René in April
1955, optical and kinetic art enjoyed significant attention and public success in Paris for a
decade, yet this prominence has yet to be critically examined. With its focus on
interaction and play, optical and kinetic art led some serious-minded critics in the 1950’s
and 60’s to dismiss this work as whimsical and light-hearted, a condition which still
plagues the critical reception of this work. This thesis addresses this gap in scholarship by
situating this particular version of optical and kinetic art within its historical moment and
local context. More specifically, I consider what made this work so appealing to a French
public, as tensions regarding France’s global identity under the leadership of Charles de
Gaulle were being worked out.
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